Throughout the year, ArchDaily's team of curators works on expanding and populating our project library. Located all around the world, each curator carefully considers the best works emanating from their respective regions in an effort to have a diverse representation of the most inspiring and innovative built works. The team looks to new rising practices, new technologies, and the vernacular revival of traditional construction techniques. Seeking socially driven initiatives, as well as major works by renowned architects, the overall offers a holistic view of the built world today and is relayed through the yearly project review.
In the 21st century, Glass has become a cornerstone material for architecture. Once limited to apertures and openings, Glass now dominates entire facades, especially in high-rise buildings where transparent cladding material is preferred to maximize views. The technological advancements in Glass have been remarkable, transitioning from single-pane panels, such as those used in Bauhaus' iron window frames, to today's triple-pane systems with specialized gas infills, such as argon, designed to address Glass's long-standing thermal limitations.
Renovation of Marcel Breuer's Robert C. Weaver Federal Building / Brooks + Scarpa. Image Courtesy of Brooks + Scarpa
Exploring architectural projects, competition entries and unbuilt works by renowned architects is an important step in fostering innovation and encouraging cross-cultural exchange and the development of diverse design approaches. Analyzing these unrealized concepts can offer insights into the evolution of architectural thinking, exploring a wider spectrum of approaches and design perspectives. This week’s curated selection of Best Unbuilt Architecture highlights designs submitted by established architecture practices.
Featuring internationally recognized offices like Brooks + Scarpa, Penoyre & Prasad, Aedas, Pininfarina, and Opposite Office, this selection exemplifies the wide range of projects and interventions designed by architects at various scales and programs. From creative reimaginings of well-known architectural icons to art museums, urban insertions, and conceptual activist proposals, these projects demonstrate the variety of approaches architects take when designing within a specific context and in response to local constraints, challenges and opportunities.
Los Angeles is a city of dreams. Known across the United States and the world, L.A. embodies both freedom and experimentation, defined as much by its freeways as its diversity. It is also a city of houses. Single-family homes cover almost half of Los Angeles, and as the city continues to evolve, architects have explored new ideas on modernity and daily life through the single-family typology.
Around 10 million people live in L.A. County, and Los Angeles itself has become one of the world's most ethnically diverse cities. The built environment reflects the nature of its residents, home to some of the most iconic residential and cultural architecture in the world. Los Angeles has its own dose of Lautner, Schindler, Wright, and Neutra. It's a city that has long embodied multiplicity and progressive forms, from the Eames House and Gehry's Residence to the iconic Stahl House. Through the lens of photographer Julius Shulman, many homes came to represent not only new residential styles but also the postwar culture of Southern California.
Architecture and design practice Brooks + Scarpa has announced that the new Ramos Collaboratory Building for the University of Florida’s School of Design Construction and Planning has broken ground. This extension will add nearly 50,000 square feet (4,600 square meters) of educational spaces to the existing college, which is also undergoing significant remodeling. The new building will include reconfigurable, multi-functional spaces where the students, faculty, and staff can collaborate both formally and informally. The building is anticipated to be completed in early 2025.
The Board of Directors and the Strategic Council of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) have awarded the 2022 Gold Medal to Angela Brooks, FAIA, and Lawrence Scarpa, FAIA, for their lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture. The jurors have also selected MASS Design Group to win the 2022 AIA Architecture Firm Award, the highest honor the AIA bestows on an architecture practice.
Architecture and design practice Brooks + Scarpa have designed a new complex for the Ministry of Environment Water and Agriculture (MEWA) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The 1.2 million square foot complex includes seven buildings and a solar system that will generate 75% of the entire energy use of the complex of buildings. The team designed the project as a "tapestry of spaces and landscapes" offering connections through shaded outdoor rooms.
California Institute of Technology Quantum Laboratory. Image Courtesy of Brooks + Scarpa
Architecture and design practice Brooks + Scarpa have created a new 25,000 square foot research and development facility under construction in Pasadena, California. The project is designed for scientists and engineers seeking to develop future quantum technologies. In turn, the experimental and theoretical quantum science and technology lab will be an incubator in the emerging field of quantum engineering and quantum computing.
Architecture and design practice Brooks + Scarpa have designed a sweeping new arts & culture center for Hollywood, Florida. Located next to the Kagey Home facility at 1650 Harrison Street in downtown, the project is funded in part through a General Obligation Bond. As a civic place for social interaction, the center is made to bring people closer to art and each other, providing opportunities for new, immersive art experiences.
Brooks + Scarpa along with PCL and BEA, design/build team is one of three finalists selected for a new community mixed-use complex. Located in the heart of Miami Beach, just one block west of the beach, the structure that replaces a municipal surface parking lot, will include pools, libraries, retail, a community center, and a 3-acre park. Designed as a resiliency hub, the building can accommodate future residential and office use when less parking is needed.
Brooks + Scarpa and Plant Prefab have developed a new toolkit to address housing shortages. Scalable as an infill solution, the Nest toolkit can be configured in multiple ways using site types and typical lot sizes, or a combination of them. The toolkit was made to address LA’s shortage of supportive housing for the homeless and provide flexibility to meet the needs of a particular site, neighborhood, and bed count.
Brooks + Scarpa and KMF Architects have designed a new expansion to the Mennello Museum of American Art in Orlando, Florida. The 40,000 square-foot project will integrate with the existing museum building to increase the number and quality of programs, opportunities, and amenities for the institution's growing audiences. The team aims to create a welcoming and inclusive space for exhibitions as a new cultural destination on Lake Formosa.
The Los Angeles City Planning Commission has approved Brooks + Scarpa's redevelopment proposal for the Flower Market in Downtown LA. The project would include a new 15-story building with over 300 residential units, and the main tower will be split into three levels, each topped with a roof deck. As Brooks + Scarpa explain, the structure's materials and colors are intended to mimic the bright colors of flowers.
After having previously photographed the offices of architecture firms in the Netherlands, Dubai, London, Paris, Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, the Nordic countries, and Barcelona, architectural photographer Marc Goodwin continues the series with an exploration of 15 large architecture and design studios in Los Angeles. Featuring a set of emerging and world-renowned offices alike, the series gives a glimpse into the life of designers across the City of Angels.
Seventeen projects chosen by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) have been selected for this year’s Institute Honor Awards for Architecture, an award known to be the profession’s highest recognition of works in America that exemplify an excellence in architecture, interior architecture and urban design.
Out of 500 submissions, the 17 recipients will be honoured with the award at the AIA Conference on Architecture in New York City in June.
Next LA - Honor: West Hollywood Belltower / Tom Wiscombe Architecture, Inc. courtesy of AIA LA
The American Institute of Architects Los Angeles (AIA|LA) just announced the winners of their 2017 Design Awards honoring Los Angeles based architects and architecture. The ceremony took place Monday, October 30th, at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica, recognizing each of the winners.
